1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of railway car brakes and more specifically to a car body mounted brake arrangement which is utilized with a center sill-less hopper car.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,865 which discloses the mounting of air brake cylinder levers and pull rods at the elevated end portion of the underframe of a rail car. U.S. Pat. No. 2,095,624 discloses the construction of various shelves to support air brake cylinder levers and pull rods. U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,000 shows a foundation brake rigging system wherein the brake connecting levers are mounted beneath the axles of the truck wheels. The present arrangement is an improvement over the constructions shown in the aforementioned patents. In sill-less hopper cars the wheel trucks utilized have usually been provided with conventional truck-mounted brakes since the foundation type of brake rigging, or the so-called body mounted brake, was not perceived to be practical because of the structure of the sill-less railway hopper car. The sill-less hopper car includes stub sills at opposite ends thereof and is provided with suitable downwardly or sidewardly opening doors for discharging the material from the car. Because of clearance and location problems it was believed that this would prevent the use of the body mounted brake system and accordingly the truck mounted braking systems were utilized. These are expensive and require additional air lines to operate. The present arrangement provides for a foundation brake system for a sill-less hopper car utilizing a novel arrangement of the braking components.